You don’t say: Hillary suddenly decides she’s against licenses for illegals; Update: Did Hillary tell Spitzer to back down?

posted at 5:55 pm on November 14, 2007 by Allahpundit

On the day after Spitzer pulls the plug and the day before the next Democratic debate. Tough, strong, smart:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday came out against granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, after weeks of pressure in the presidential race to take a position on a now-failed ID plan from her home state governor…

“I support Governor Spitzer’s decision today to withdraw his proposal,” Clinton said in a statement. “As president, I will not support driver’s licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system.”

Clinton stumbled when asked about the issue during a Democratic debate two weeks ago, and her new position comes the day before another debate where opponents are expected to raise the issue again.

Hey, remember when she supported the idea and then opposed it in the span of about three minutes? And then supported it again? I think we’ve all probably seen that debate video by now but go watch it again, focusing this time not on trying to decipher whether she supports the plan or not but on how careful she is never to commit firmly to any position. She thinks Spitzer’s being sensible, but of course there are problems with the proposal, but that’s George Bush’s America for you, etc etc. It’s an object lesson in what Krauthammer says about her being the supreme pragmatist: it’s all about leaving room to wiggle in the future in case she has to do so. Like, say, right now.

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“As president, I will not support driver’s licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system.”

This wench makes me want to puke. Take a stand already! All because you say you will or won’t support a side, doesn’t mean you agree or disagree.
Comprehensive reform means amnesty, and for all we know “fixing our broken system” may mean registering all those here illegally to vote-democrat of course.

Mayor Gavin Newsom has been resolute in defending San Francisco’s sanctuary status, and on Thursday his spokesman said Newsom supports Ammiano’s idea for a card, which could be used for libraries, golf courses, public transportation and other services.

And his justification for their sanctuary city policy sounds oddly familiar… trying to remember where I’ve heard this before…

Ammiano said the impetus for the city cards came from the immigrant community, which asked for his help. Illegal immigrants who are victims or witnesses of crime often do not report the incident because they have no identification and fear deportation. Identification also is needed for many services, such as city health care.

Win win for our side. The videos clearly illustrating the flip-flop on the issue are out there just as much as the words are out of her mouth – neither can be retrieved. Those candidates running against her that choose to highlight this flip-flop will be able to use it against her right up until election day.

Yes, and it’s a gift not only to the Republicans, but to the other Dem candidates. Edwards will use it, certainly, and it’s possible (however unlikely) that Obama will discover his gonads for 30 seconds and make oblique mention of it. The more Hillary has to fight in the primary, the more ammo the Republican nominee will have for the general.

fred5678 on November 14, 2007 at 6:13 PM
And his justification for their sanctuary city policy sounds oddly familiar… trying to remember where I’ve heard this before…

Ammiano said the impetus for the city cards came from the immigrant community, which asked for his help. Illegal immigrants who are victims or witnesses of crime often do not report the incident because they have no identification and fear deportation. Identification also is needed for many services, such as city health care.
Hollowpoint on November 14, 2007 at 6:20 PM

I agree. Illegal aliens should fear deportation. Just as you should fear a parking ticket if you don’t feed the meter. Illegal aliens would not be anonymous victims of crime in their own country. The problem is of their own making.

I disagree. Additional identification is NOT needed by those who are entitled to free, taxpayer-funded medical care. Emergency medical care should be offered to all illegal aliens before boarding the bus home.

Allah, I can’t help wondering what your former heartthrob will have to say about this latest gaffe. But I’m sure it will be accompanied by that sleepy look she uses to imply the subject is hardly worth the effort to respond.

I’d sure like to see her go down as their candidate and give our side a landslide, but I’m also partial to the Republicans being the first party to nominate a woman and a Black American. I’d love to rub the Dems’ collective nose in that one / those. Maybe next time…

but I’m also partial to the Republicans being the first party to nominate a woman and a Black American.

Rugged Individual on November 14, 2007 at 6:43 PM

Don’t worry. It’s a given. Liberals love to tell everyone how racist everyone else is, but the truth is that the world will come to an end long before liberals elect an African American to be President. When it happens, it will be conservatives who do it.

If Condi hadn’t managed to suddenly turn into Jimmy Carter she would probably be leading the Republican polls right now.

Update: Wouldn’t surprise me a bit, but it’s hard to trust a report like this when it comes from inside Spitzer’s camp. He’s looking for a scapegoat for his colossal cock-up and she’s convenient.

I don’t know that it’s looking for a scapegoat. It was after all his bright idea, wasn’t it? This was just a corrective smack by his master to remind him of his place and the limits of his independence.

This is just Spitzer being Hillary’s lap dog and, to me, that doesn’t look good for either of them.

Update (Allah): Wouldn’t surprise me a bit, but it’s hard to trust a report like this when it comes from inside Spitzer’s camp. He’s looking for a scapegoat for his colossal cock-up and she’s convenient.

I don’t see how it would make sense for Hillary to tell Spitzer to dump the plan. She had finally expressed her support for the plan, and then she tells Spitzer to dump it, knowing that with all the heat she’s been getting for the debate debacle, she’s likely to get roasted medium-well for another obvious flip-flop? And on top of that, if she did put the squeeze on Spitzer, she must have known it was possible for the squeeze to be made public, and where does that leave her? Equivocating, flip-flopping, and squeezing.

Man oh man, I can’t wait to see what the Repub. nominee does with all this material. I just hope that whoever it is doesn’t get all squishy. Hit her hard, wait for the “bully boys picking on the girl” boo-hooing to begin, and then put the boo-hoos in a new commercial. Checkmate.

I must say that I get very upset when the left calls President Bush various insulting names. With that being said I think some of you on this thread need to grow up and show some respect. I can’t stand Hillary or her husband for that matter but the name calling needs to stop. You people are better than that. If not then go find a kiddie blog to go play on. We must lead by example and some of you are failing the test.

Notice how Hillary’s campaign is constantly moving from one scandal to the next? I wonder if the “plants” issue has been explored enough before we get sidetracked on this issue again? And once we start exploring this issue, will they have another distraction? If they make it a pattern without ever having a conclusion before moving to the next problem, does each scandal mean less and less until no one pays attention? It’s gonna take some real focus to not let her baffle us with her BS. I mean look at the problems in just the last month…

“I support Governor Spitzer’s decision today to withdraw his proposal,” Clinton said in a statement. “As president, I will not support driver’s licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system.”

In other words, she’ll ram it down our throats as part of a larger amnesty program.

I agree completely. If she ever does manage to claw her way to the presidency, she’ll be so busy putting out all the fires (both hers and her husbands) she won’t have much time to do anything presidential. (Hey, that actually might not be so bad!)

“As president, I will not support driver’s licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system.”
She’ll make’em all legal.

tgillian on November 14, 2007 at 6:05 PM

Let’s parse that a bit shall we?

Pay particular attention to the term undocumented, so, all Spitzer has to do is offer some other type of documentation, and the road to DLs is wide open.

And the document that will come with comprehensive immigration reform will be, Citizenship papers.

Ammiano said the impetus for the city cards came from the immigrant community, which asked for his help. Illegal immigrants who are victims or witnesses of crime often do not report the incident because they have no identification and fear deportation. Identification also is needed for many services, such as city health care.

Hollowpoint on November 14, 2007 at 6:20 PM

Ammiano should explain what crime victims are playing golf, at libraries, etc.

This past week, CNN’s Lou Dobbs posted an online commentary in which he predicted the victory next year of a surprise presidential candidate not yet in the race — an “independent populist . . . who understands [that] the genius of this country lies in the hearts and minds of its people and not in the prerogatives and power of its elites.”

After extensive but completely speculative investigative reporting, the candidate Dobbs may well have in mind can now be revealed:

It’s Lou Dobbs.

In a year when the political and media establishments are tone deaf, Dobbs, of all people, is in tune with the public mood. Even if he doesn’t run, he bears watching.

More important, of course, is the public’s mood and its disconnect with the current campaign. Confidence in both parties is near record lows. The economy may be tanking. Illegal immigration is the hot topic of the moment. Yet the major candidates are all running on platforms and platitudes geared to a nation satisfied with the two major parties. No one, seemingly, is listening to the average-but-angry voter.

Democratic frontrunner HClinton is becoming a “John Kerryish” albatross around the neck of the Democratic Party. They will stay the course, and the Dems loyalty to the Clintons will cost them the 2008 election, and possibly Congress also, as the stink of failure spreads across their Party.
But the greater reason for the Dems loss will be their betting against our country, putting all of their chips on red, tying their success to the ‘failure’ in Iraq.
No matter how they may dissemble and lie, ‘We the People’ are watching.

Pretty convenient for Spitzer to dump his plan JUST BEFORE this debate tonight, so that in the event a question come sup, PIAPS can say it’s old news now, can’t we just move on. Now she has an official position and the mean old men can’t pile on her anymore. And now that Spitzer followed orders dropped his plan, and warned Blitzer to not ask hard questions, she’ll have all the cover she needs to just skate along. Hmm. Blitzer and Spitzer.